1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a gearshift lever with reverse gear lock-out gearing. The gearshift lever with reverse gear lock-out can be used as the gearshift mechanism of a manual-shift motor vehicle transmission with a reverse gear lock-out acting by form fit that comprises a movably mounted blocking element on the gearshift lever, with the gearshift lever rod having curvature between the gearshift knob and the control line sheath and the ball of the gearshift lever.
2. The Prior Art
Gearshift levers are provided in manual-shift transmissions of motor vehicles to engage a gear or to change gears. To this end, the gearshift lever is mounted to pivot around a gearshift shaft essentially perpendicular to it in order to select a shift slot around a selector shaft and to engage a gear. To prevent the driver from inadvertently shifting into reverse, a reverse gear lock-out has to be overcome or unlocked. This prevents inadvertently shifting into the reverse gear shift slot, or reaching the reverse gear shift slot from a neutral position of the shift slots in question. Whether the entire gear shift slot or only the reverse gear shift position is secured in this way is governed by whether the gear shift slot in question is assigned only to the reverse gear or also to a forward gear. The reverse gear lock-out with form fit action can be locked or unlocked by pressing down on the entire gearshift lever or by lifting an upper region of the gearshift lever. Various methods for this are known.
European Patent No. EP 1 111 276 A2 describes a gearshift lever for a reverse gear lock-out in which a control cable that lies outside of the gearshift rod is placed between the locking element for the reverse gear lock-out and in the control line mechanism. This gearshift lever has no curvature. The control cable is located directly on the pull ring, runs on both sides of the selector and gearshift rod, and moves a locking element on the gearshift lever that engages in a locking element on the car body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,202 shows a gearshift lever that has slight curvature and a control cable for the reverse gear lock-out. The force of the control cable is fed into the shaft of the lever, with a costly angle mechanism being used to redirect the forces.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,914,969 describes a manual gearshift lever that has a push mechanism and a rod that lies outside of the lever. The gearshift lever is not curved. Pressure mechanisms of this kind are inconvenient for the driver of the vehicle to operate when they are located in the console of a passenger car. The control mechanism suggested in the document in turn can be adapted for curved gearshift levers only in combination with diversion mechanisms.
European Patent No. 0 834 683 A1 shows a control mechanism on a manual gearshift lever with the gearshift rod located outside of the gearshift lever. The mechanism for transmitting the control forces is unsuitable, of course, when the gearshift lever rod has sharp curvature.
No methods are known for a gearshift lever with a control mechanism directly beneath the gearshift knob that has sharp curvature between the control mechanism and the ball with which the control force can be easily transmitted to the lever for the reverse gear lock-out. The known methods block the motions of the gearshift lever to accomplish a reverse gear lock-out.